Found this little upper body (abdominal / core and shoulder workout) on the Diesel Crew website. I can see myself doing this with a good heavy kettlebell, but I suppose one could start a bit lighter. I like it.
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The Body Is One Piece – There Is No Core
Dan John, the Strength Coach and head track and field coach at Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper, Utah originally said that the body is one piece and that there is no core. Mark Twight at GymJones took that to heart and filmed a bunch of “center oriented exercises” where movement was initiated from the center. Have a look
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A previous video shows Dan John teaching Olympic Lifts
How To Strengthen The Foot With A Bosu Ball
The Foot, we walk on them, jump with them, put them in fashionable shoes, kick things with them (ouch), pound on them (running), soak them, paint them but how do we make them stronger. I’ve put a lot of thought into how they work and how to make the foot stronger. I believe the feet are the base of our posture. So if you don’t have strong feet or have bunions, hammer toes, or wear shoes that make your feet unhappy, what happens?
We stopped wearing weight belts (or should have with few exceptions) because they made the muscles in the core weak but we have progressively added more and more support to our feet. No wonder we have foot problems. I have noticed that wearing what most would call a “good” athletic shoe the feet become weaker. Orthodics are similar and can cause problems and make the feet weaker as well.
When I see people that wear a shoe all the time I wonder if it’s really that good for the feet or if it’s doing more harm? When things like this are in question I like to go back to basics.
The Ultimate Guide to Freezing Food
This two-part article looks at the many ways to freeze food (including specifics for common food types), as well as a few suggestions for getting the most out of your freezer itself. It can be a wonderful piece of equipment.
Chances are that when you buy a new refrigerator, the freezer just comes along for the ride. It’s a part of the kitchen that most people don’t spend much time thinking about.
It can be, however, an extremely efficient tool for putting aside excess food for later use. If you enjoy saving time when preparing your evening meal; being able to add fruit to your breakfast all through the year; or just love the idea of having home-made sorbet on hand whenever you like – read on.
Power Wheel Core Trainer Review
The Power Wheel is not to be confused with the abdominal wheel, but is still in the same category of abdominal exercise equipment. I have known about the Ab Wheel for years, but wanted something a bit more robust, better for outdoor workouts and which incorporates lower abdominal training as well. Enter the Power Wheel.
Similar in design to the good ‘ol Ab Wheel, the Power Wheel takes it a step farther by incorporating foot pads for lower body work and which then completes this core training device by allowing for many more types of workouts.
Lower Abdominal and Core
By attaching your feet to the pedals, and having them held in place with the tubing, you can take your training to the next level. Some very basic movements include v-tucks, bending at the waist moving into the pike position and then returning as in a reverse version of the traditional V Sit-up. Another option for lower abs is to do tucks by bringing your knees into your chest and then returning them. For fun, you might consider walking or running on your hands while staying in the plank position and see how far you can travel. Make a competition out of how many “steps” or the actual distance or time the event. I can see how this can build not only a powerful core, but also upper body, pec and delt work. For added difficulty, try climbing the side of a hill, running uphill on your hands.
Zack Even-Esh of Real Man Fitness is demonstrating a pike with the Power Wheel in the photo to the right. This is not an easy move and requires a lot of training and patience before getting it done correctly. My trainer has had me doing this movement using a stability ball for years, and now I have a way to do it outside with only one piece of equipment.
You can also flip over to your back and do reverse tucks bringing your feet up towards your ass while propping yourself up on your shoulder blades.
The wheel is much bigger which I find allows for outdoor workouts on open terrain, so that’s a great improvement that I really like.
Upper Abdominals Workout
Using the Power Wheel handles allows you to start on your knees and then extend out as far as you can and then return. More advanced users can actually begin on their feet and then lower down to the plank position before returning to full upright. This was seen being done in a video on the ab wheel review. It takes a great deal of training and core strength before getting to that place. Personally? I am still doing the knee workouts but week by week am getting stronger
Benefits
- Big 14” tire good for indoor or outdoor workouts
- Foot pedals for many more exercise possibilities
- Velcro straps and tubing to keep feet in place
- Rugged construction
- Handles my weight at 240 pounds quite nicely
- Voted the Best Core Trainer in the world
While they’ve incorporated the foot pedals into the product which adds for much more variety, in doing so they had to make the handles longer. I find that with my weight, the handles begin to bend when I’ve got my upper body weight bearing down on it. It’s pretty strong, but I would want it even stronger if I could get it improved a bit.
The Power Wheel Ab Trainer